


The Akuma Hunger Games 2

by secretagentspydetectiveninja



Series: The Akuma Hunger Games [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: ALSO. RAREPAIRS, F/F, Femslash February, almost all the villains are in it i just couldn't be bothered to tag them all again, and some of them are irrelevant anyway, this one is way less cool than the first one but it's gayer so there's that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 03:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9859319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretagentspydetectiveninja/pseuds/secretagentspydetectiveninja
Summary: Hawk Moth puts his akumatized villains into a new Hunger Games, to get revenge on them for what happened the first time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In honour of Femslash February I'm gonna make this really, really gay :D (And it's not just Julerose this time! You get a fabulous rarepair too)
> 
> Oh, and things will probably make much more sense if you read the first one first!

Hawk Moth stood at the control panel in his new lair. Hopefully those pesky superheroes wouldn't find this one too. In any case, even if they did, it would be too late. This time they wouldn't be able to prevent any deaths. He would make sure of it.

"Hello again," he said through his communications channel to the akumatized villains, each in their own personal room getting ready to enter the Games. "I'm sure you know what's going on right now. Yes, I've akumatized all of you again, and you're going back into the Hunger Games. Only this time, you won't be able to escape."

Chuckling evilly, he switched on the monitors in front of him and looked at the feed from the new arena. It was beautiful. Much better than the last arena, certainly.

"I have some new rules in place," he continued. "First of all, I'm getting rid of that loophole rule, the one that allows you to live if you are de-akumatized in the arena. From now on, if you turn back into your civilian self, hard luck. You'll just have to make do without any superpowers and probably die. That's right - the only way to escape alive now is as the victor."

"So you'll just let Manon die this time," Lady Wifi said through gritted teeth.

"Actually, I won't. I didn't include her this time. It's just the rest of you. At least that way you might not be so hesitant to kill. In fact, I already know what you're thinking - you're thinking that this time, you just won't kill anyone. You'll all band together and live peacefully. Isn't that right? Well, too bad, because there's another new rule. If no one has died by sunset on the third day, I will make the arena's volcano explode, and there's no guarantee that _anyone_ could survive that. Yes, you heard me, a volcano, and a lethal, artificial one at that. Bubbler's bubbles will pop. Evillustrator's protective boxes will break. Climatika's ice will melt. Mt Power, as I call this volcano, is unforgiving. And if you're planning on sacrificing yourself in order to buy the others some time beyond the third day, don't bother because I won't count that. I will only count a real death from an actual battle. Even Darkblade converting everyone into knights won't count as a victory. Death is the only way."

He had expected some kind of uproar, but the villains were eerily silent.

"One more thing," he said. "If you try to mess things up this time, I will not tolerate it. For example, if a certain villain were to, say... _time travel,_ in order to prevent deaths, I would kill them on the spot, followed by killing the person they were trying to save. In fact, just don't time travel at all because I _will_ kill you immediately. I hope I've made myself clear on that point."

He paused for a second to allow the words to sink in. There was no way he was letting everything be ruined this time, and if he had to resort to blatant threats to keep everyone in line, then so be it.

"Anyway, you now have until 10 o clock to use the phones and make alliances," he said. "I will see you all again quite soon. Good luck." He turned off his communications channel before anyone could say anything - though it hadn't sounded like anyone was going to say anything this time. It seemed that the villains weren't very keen on speaking to him.

 

Volpina's phone rang almost immediately. Who could be calling her? She had been the first one out of the Games last time and her powers barely even did anything, why would anyone want to talk to her? She answered anyway.

"It's me, Gamer," said the voice on the other end. "Can we team up?"

"Why do you want to team up with me?" she asked, sceptical.

"I have a plan and it involves your illusions. I'll explain more once we get in the actual arena, but... you do realize that your illusions are more lethal that they seem, right? You could use them to lead someone off the edge of a cliff, for example, by tricking them into thinking it's solid ground. Your illusions aren't useless."

"I know that," she snapped, annoyed that she hadn't thought about it like that yet. "But I'm not really interested in killing anyone, thanks. I'd rather take my chances with the volcano than do what Hawk Moth wants me to."

"Yes, I know, it's the same with me. But trust me, your illusions will still be helpful. Can we please just team up? I'll explain when we're actually in the arena."

"But why won't you explain now?"

"There are probably ways for the other villains to listen in on these phone calls. I doubt the walls are very thick here in this new lair. Anyway, will you team up with me or not?"

"Maybe," Volpina muttered.

"I think you're forgetting that I'm the one who knows the most about this new arena. Remember, last time when we'd been de-akumatized and hanging out in the civilian room in Hawk Moth's lair, and I was reading about this volcano arena in Hawk Moth's journals? I have some valuable knowledge that might come in handy."

Volpina did indeed remember him talking about it back then, though she didn't remember any details. "Alright, fine. Meet me in the arena at the start and I'll listen to your plan. But if I don't like it then I'm not teaming up."

"Fine, that's good enough for me." He put the phone down.

 

Those two villains were not the only ones teaming up right from the start. Antibug called Timebreaker up almost the second Hawk Moth had stopped talking.

"We _have to_ team up," she said. "We won last time, right? So it's like, illegal for us to not team up."

Timebreaker sighed. "I guess, but things are different this time. If you de-akumatize anyone you'll just make them vulnerable, and if I even try to time travel then I may as well dig my own grave. I don't see how either of us is getting out of here this time other than either killing people or death by volcano."

"We'll figure something out. I mean, you don't want to kill people, right?"

"Of course not. I worked so hard to keep everyone alive last time, I'm not letting that stupid Hawk Moth ruin my streak now."

"Exactly. So it seems like our best option right now is to team up, not kill anyone, and hopefully survive the volcano blast. Right?"

"Right."

"Good! Oh, and you wouldn't mind if we teamed up with Vanisher too, would you? She's my other friend here so-"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Excellent. In that case I'll meet up with the two of you at the start of the Games. See you soon!"

"Yep, see you."

Timebreaker put the phone down. She already felt conflicted - being freshly akumatized again was really making her feel murderous, like she just wanted to drain the life energy of everyone around her. But her brain and feelings were telling her not to. She couldn't just ruin everything she had worked so hard for last time, could she? But then again, why not? After all, it really did seem like everyone was going to die this time, whether by fighting or by volcano... Would it even be worth it, trying to not kill anyone? Should she just try to win the Games normally?

No, of course not, that was ridiculous. That would be exactly what Hawk Moth wanted, and there was no way she was listening to him. He'd already ruined her life enough. No, she would peacefully team up with Antibug - her friend, apparently - and Vanisher, and do her best to survive without having to kill anyone.

 

Copycat was pacing around his room, wondering if he dared try out the idea he had in his mind. If it worked, he might just be able to escape. That was, if he could get out of Hawk Moth's lair in 5 minutes. It was worth a shot, that was for sure. If he was going to die in this arena anyway, which seemed likely, then he may as well try this.

" _Cataclysm!_ " he yelled, lifting him arm in the air, ready to throw it down on the wall in front of him and break out of this room before he could be put in this arena. But to his surprise, nothing happened.

There was the sound of laughter from the speakers. "You fool," Hawk Moth said. "Do you really think I hadn't already considered you would use Cataclysm to escape? None of your villain powers will work until you get into the arena and the Games begin. Your attempt is quite amusing, though. Stone Heart tried a similar thing in the first Games but learned quite fast that it wasn't worth it."

Copycat scowled. He had been so sure that was going to work...

 

At 10 o clock, Hawk Moth moved the villains into the arena. "Let the Hunger Games begin!" he announced through the speakers. Then, looking down at his arena on the screens, he burst into evil laughter. The villains were all looking around confused - _where was everyone else?_ Why could they not see any other villains? Hawk Moth congratulated himself on his own genius. From listening in on certain conversations he knew perfectly well that most of the villains were planning to make alliances and not kill anyone, so to make things more difficult for these traitors, he had started them all off rather spread out instead. In fact, he had put some of these villains in very interesting starting places indeed. Just let them try and team up when they couldn't even find each other!

 

Gamer sat in his mecha robot, hovering around. It was quite difficult to move considering that he seemed to be in some kind of forest, jungle sort of place, and the trees were blocking his path in every direction. He could see the big peak of Mt Power, the volcano, in the distance through the gaps in the trees. It looked similar to the pictures of it he had seen in Hawk Moth's journals all that time ago. He tried to remember everything he possibly could about it - maybe there was some way to survive the lava?

He was distracted by a knock on the front of his window - it was Volpina. He opened the window and let her into the cockpit.

"How did you manage to find me so quickly?" he asked.

"Luck, I guess. I saw Jackady too but he didn't notice me. Anyway, what's this plan of yours?"

Gamer looked around, then began whispering. "I didn't want to tell you on the phone because I didn't want Hawk Moth listening in. But I don't think his mics and cameras can get into this robot so we should be safe. Basically, I'm trying to think of a way we can save everyone and get out of here alive."

"Why do you need my illusions?"

"To distract Hawk Moth while I come up with a plan. Make it look like villains are fighting each other. Make him focus on that, so that I can investigate the volcano and think up a plan in peace, without having to worry that he's going to suddenly kill me off when he realizes what I'm up to. And if I don't have a plan by the time that Mt Power is going to explode, you could always use your illusions to make Hawk Moth think that someone has died when they really haven't, so then he won't set off the volcano and we'll have a bit longer."

Volpina grinned. "Using my illusions to trick Hawk Moth himself? Now _that_ is a good plan." She put the flute to her lips and started to play.

 

Somewhere far above them, Guitar Villain was soaring through the skies on his dragon, Fang. He hadn't read the book _Catching Fire_ , nor had he seen the film, and he was feeling completely fearless.

"Come on Fang, let's fly out of here!" he said to his beloved pet. "If we can fly far enough away from this place then surely Hawk Moth won't be able to stop us."

It didn't take too long for Fang to fly straight into the force field that surrounded the arena. After a quick zap he fell straight down, Guitar Villain with him. Luckily they landed relatively softly in some very thick foliage, but Fang was unconscious now.

"Fang!" Guitar Villain said, shaking him. "Are you okay? What happened? Why aren't you waking up?" He turned around and noticed the Mime standing there, silently watching with his arms crossed. "Hey, you! Can you help? I think something's happened to my dragon! I swear I won't kill you, as long as you just help him-"

Mime stepped forwards and signalled Guitar Villain to move aside. Then he mimed taking something out of a box, rubbing his hands together, then holding them over Fang's chest. He put them on the dragon's skin and there was a loud zapping sound. In a few seconds Fang was breathing again, his eyes opening slowly.

"Whoa, that rocked!" Guitar Villain said. "Thank you so much, I thought he was dead! Oh Fang, I'm so glad you're alive..." He hugged his dragon tightly.

Fang stood up, then leaned forwards and took a great big bite out of the Mime's hat. Mime tried to grab it back, and in the tug of war, the photo in the hat's pocket ripped and out flew the akuma. It wasn't long before the Mime turned back into Fred Haprèle.

"Oh Fang, what was that for?" Guitar Villain said. "That guy had such cool powers! And now we've got to deal with some muggle civilian!"

"Um... what's going on?" Fred asked, not able to clearly remember anything. Looking around he could see that he was in some sort of jungle of some kind, but other than that he had no clue what was happening.

"What's going on is that Hawk Moth put us all back in the Hunger Games and is _making_ us kill people this time," Guitar Villain replied. "I'm not killing you though, since you just saved Fang."

Fred was starting to have vague memories about it. "Oh yes... I mimed a defibrillator after Fang flew into the force field..."

"The what? Force field? What is this, sci-fi?"

"There's a force field around the arena to stop people escaping. You can tell where it is by looking for the wavy lines. It's over there - see?" Fred pointed to the side, and Guitar Villain looked. Sure enough, the air was wavering as if it was a mirage. "That's the force field," Fred continued. "Don't touch it, you'll get electrocuted, and there won't be anything I can do this time."

"How do you know all this?"

"Mylène persuaded me to watch _Catching Fire_ and I learnt a thing or two. Speaking of Mylène... do you have any idea where Horrificator is?"

"No, sorry, I didn't see anything from up there."

"Oh, well that's okay. I'm... I'm sure she's doing fine."

Fred didn't look too happy, but Guitar Villain didn't say anything.

 

Lady Wifi tackled Bubbler to the ground in a rather smothering hug.

"NINO!"

"Alya, I can't breathe!"

"Oh, sorry..." She stood up and helped him up. "We're teaming up this time, right?"

"As long as you don't knock me out this time."

"Of course I won't. This time we're a proper team, and I promise I'll always tell you everything I know straightaway." She flicked out a camera from her phone. It landed in the trees, fairly well camouflaged in the leaves despite being bright pink. "I've been using a Puppeteer trick - using my "fast-forward" buttons to zoom around the arena, putting cameras everywhere I can. I already know where most of the villains are and they haven't even seen me yet. I've still got some sectors of the arena to go, especially the parts nearer the volcano in the centre, but I'll get there soon. The most annoying thing is that I can't tell which is the real Volpina. There seem to be multiple."

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat. Lady Wifi and Bubbler turned to see Volpina standing there, holding her flute.

"The real Volpina is right here," she said, pointing to herself. "And I think you should team up with Gamer and I. We have a plan but we want your help too."

Lady Wifi looked at Bubbler. "What do you say?"

"Sure," he shrugged.

"Okay, we'll hear your plan."

"Alright, but not here," Volpina said. "Follow me."

"Wait a minute!" Lady Wifi stepped up to Volpina and tapped her. "Just making sure you're real. Alright, fine, lead the way."

Volpina led them back to where Gamer was waiting, near the edge of the arena.

 

Antibug ran around, looking for her friends. She had started off not too far away from the foot of the volcano and she headed towards it, hoping she might find other villains around there. Ugh! It would be _impossible_ to find Vanisher like this, considering she was invisible and everything! Why couldn't Hawk Moth have started everyone off in the same place, like last time? That would have made life so much easier.

She stopped suddenly, hearing a noise. It sounded as if someone was banging something against a rock. Looking around, she realized the sound was coming from behind a large boulder that was resting against the side of the volcano.

"Hello, anyone there?" she called, running up to it and putting her ear against it. Sure enough, there was a reply.

"Yeah it's me, Timebreaker, I started off stuck in this cave thing and I can't move this boulder to get out..."

Antibug breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's you! Thank goodness I found you! That stupid Hawk Moth, I bet he started you off in there on purpose so that you'd starve to death or something. Well, I'm not letting you die. I'll have you out of there in no time, alright?"

"Okay, thanks..."

Antibug tried to push the boulder away, but it didn't budge. She then tried to wrap her yoyo around it to move it, but the string just kept moving, so that didn't work either.

"Uh, can you hurry up?" Timebreaker called from inside. "There's this magma stuff coming out of a crack in the wall and it's already getting really hot in here... and it smells like it's probably poisonous, I don't know..."

Antibug immediately threw her yoyo in the air. " _Anti-Charm!_ " The next second, a tiny mirror had been delivered into her hand. "What on earth am I supposed to do with _this?_ A little mirror is not going to move an entire boulder!" She gave the boulder another giant shove, but it refused to move even an inch. "No! I _hate_ that Hawk Moth! He's probably pouring magma into the cave on purpose just to kill you off quickly - you know he hates you for messing things up last time. But I'm _not_ letting you, die, okay? I'll get you out of there, I promise!" Throwing her entire body into the force, the boulder still did not move.

This was so frustrating! There _had_ to be some way to move that boulder, there just had to. And what did that mirror have to do with it? How was that supposed to help her save her friend? Antibug tried to calm her nerves and think.

There were footsteps from behind her. She turned around to see Pharaoh standing there. Grabbing her yoyo she prepared to defend herself against him, but he made no move to attack her.

"Your flashing light caught my attention," he said, pointing at the mirror in her hand.

"What flashing - oh." She realized that the sunlight had been reflecting off the mirror, throwing light all over the place, way into the forest. Well, if Pharaoh was here, she may as well try to get help from him. "Listen, Pharaoh - your sister is stuck in a cave behind that boulder, and in a few minutes it's going to fill up with enough magma to kill her. And I _know_ you don't care about her or think of her as your sister or whatever, but please help get her out of there, I'll do anything I swear, I won't kill you, I'll-"

Without another word he pushed her aside and used his super strength to move the boulder. Timebreaker skated out immediately, and Pharaoh pushed the boulder back in front of the cave.

"Pharaoh?" Timebreaker said, frowning. "Did you just save me? I thought you said I'm not really your sister, or whatever it was..."

"You are not," Pharaoh said. "But last time you and your team saved my life by de-akumatizing me. I owed you a favour. And now I indeed know that even if I do win these Games, Hawk Moth will merely turn me back into my other form and not let me complete my ritual. In that case I may try to ease my other form's conscience - now he will know that he did what he could to keep his sister alive. But I will not stay any longer. Goodbye."

He changed the mask on his face and then flew off into the sky.

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Antibug said, leaping forwards to hug Timebreaker. "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"We go to the same school..."

"No, no, not like _that_ , I meant as villains. In a weird, way it's nice to see you again. I sort of missed you."

"You're such a sap."

Antibug quickly let go. "What? No I'm not!"

"Whatever. Anyway let's get out of here - I don't feel like staying near this volcano for much longer if Hawk Moth really does have it in for me."

"You're right. Let's go. We'll try and find Vanisher."

The two of them headed off into the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hmm, that does sound like a good plan," Lady Wifi said, stood in Gamer's cockpit with her own teammate, Bubbler. "Fine, we can team up. You have full access to any of my cameras if you need them. I haven't yet got complete arena coverage, but I can do that soon."

"Have you got any ideas yet how to get us outta here?" Bubbler asked.

"Sort of," Gamer said. "When I was in Hawk Moth's lair last time and read his arena journals, I discovered that the synthetic lava in the volcano has some interesting properties. It is incredibly explosive, and most importantly, at high enough concentrations it can weaken the force field around the arena enough to break it. That was why Hawk Moth didn't use this arena last time."

"That's awesome! But then isn't Hawk Moth just shooting himself in the foot by making the volcano explode on day 3, if it's just gonna break the force field?"

"No. I remember reading a phrase: _The volcano does not contain enough lava to reach the force field_. When the volcano explodes on day 3, the lava won't be thrown high enough into the air to get to the force field, or splashes that do won't be concentrated enough to break it. That's what we need to figure out how to change - how to direct the lava into the force field so we can escape. And we'd better do that within the next two days, without Hawk Moth noticing."

"What then?" Lady Wifi asked. "Once the force field is broken, where will we end up?"

"The arena is in hyperspace, so there's nothing really outside it. We'd just end up back in Hawk Moth's lair. From there we can fight him and someone can call Ladybug and Chat Noir for help." He grinned. "Your friends Marinette and Adrien, that is."

Lady Wifi nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan. Let's get working on that. Bubbler and I will go put up the rest of the cameras."

"And I'll carry on thinking about how to concentrate the lava. Good."

He opened the cockpit window, and Lady Wifi and Bubbler jumped out, ready to go again. Volpina was standing just outside, playing her flute. Creating so many complex illusions everywhere was taking its toll on her, but she knew she couldn't stop. She had to keep Hawk Moth distracted.

"Oh - Volpina!" Lady Wifi said. "I wanted to quickly ask you something. Could you make a list of all your illusions for me? A bit later if you're busy right now. It's just it would be easier for me if I knew what's an illusion and what isn't."

"Will do."

"Thanks! Come on Bubbler, let's go." She grabbed his waist and jumped onto a fast-forward button she shot out of her phone, then they zoomed off together into the depths of the forest.

 

It was much later in the day, and Evillustrator was sitting near the edge of the arena, feeling sorry for himself. He was probably going to die this time, wasn't he? Either by another villain killing him or in the volcano explosion. And if, by some chance, he _did_ survive, it would mean everyone else was dead. None of these seemed to be happy endings. He sat there on the ground, listening to the chirping birds around him in the trees, not doing anything. There was no point.

He heard movement somewhere through the trees in front of him. The next second, Antibug and Timebreaker had entered the area. Oh... those two. They would probably kill him this time, wouldn't they? He braced himself for their attack… then realized that they weren’t interested in fighting. At all.

"Oh, it's just you," Antibug muttered, barely throwing him a glance. "Anyway Timebreaker, I'm sure if Vanisher sees us then she'll let us know, so we should just keep looking for now-"

"Can I team up with you?" Evillustrator asked. The other two turned to look at him again, seeming rather unimpressed.

"Why?"

"I don't want to be alone. I'm..." He gulped. "...scared."

"And you trust us?"

"You didn't kill me just now so you're clearly not going to hurt me, and you saved everyone last time. Yes, I trust you." True, he was still afraid of them considering their actions towards him last time, and teamwork was not his forte. But it was less scary than dying alone. Maybe they would protect him.

"Well well, how the tables turn," Antibug said, smirking. "It's true we're not killing anyone, and I suppose you're not either. It's just quite funny, isn't it, that last time we literally had to force you to join our team, and this time you're actually asking us? Hmm, Timebreaker, what do you think we should do?"

Timebreaker shrugged. "I don't really care."

"Well, he _is_ quite powerful, though I don't see how that's going to help us this time."

"Please," Evillustrator said. "I'm your classmate."

"So?"

"I know I don't talk to people very much, but that's why... I just don't want to be lonely right now. Since I'm probably going to die anyway. And this might be the last chance I get to see any of you, or hang out with anyone ever."

Antibug rolled her eyes. "You're the biggest sap I know, honestly. Fine, you can team up with us. But just to be clear, you're pretty much a third wheel. And you have to help us find Vanisher."

Evillustrator nodded. "Okay. I will. Thanks." He stood up. "And by the way, don't head any further forward. I saw the force field there - it does that weird shimmering thing like in _Catching Fire_."

"Thank you for the warning," Antibug said. "Though if I'd have walked into it there's always Timebreaker to bring me back with CPR, right?"

"Um, no?" Timebreaker said. "Because you'd die from my "death touch" if I do the chest compressions?"

"Huh?... Oh yes... chest compressions... I forgot about those..."

"Then what were you talking about?"

"Never mind," Antibug said quickly. "The important thing right now is to find Vanisher. Let's keep looking."

They carried on searching for a while, wandering through the forest alongside the force field. It seemed to be taking them in a wide circle around the volcano, which seemed to be the centre of the arena. This time they hadn't been provided with an arena map prior to the start of the Games, so they had no idea which "sector" they would consider themselves to be in, or what sort of dangers lay around. They simply kept pushing on and hoped that they would by some chance run into Vanisher.

Along the way, Antibug kept chattering on and on to Timebreaker, completely ignoring Evillustrator, but Timebreaker wasn’t paying much attention. She was thinking about something strange… when she had been let out of that cave earlier, she was _sure_ her hand had accidentally brushed Pharaoh’s arm. Certain. It definitely happened. But then… why wasn’t he dead? Surely that should have been enough to kill him? He wasn’t immortal or anything, he could still die, just like any other villain, otherwise Hawk Moth wouldn’t have bothered putting him in the Games at all. And even an accidental touch should have been enough to kill him. She had killed people by accident before, after all. So why on earth was he still alive?

Well, he was her brother. Maybe that made a difference somehow. Maybe it was like how her death touch didn’t work on versions of herself from other timelines. So perhaps it didn’t work on people who were related to her, too.

But then again… she _had_ managed to kill another timeline version of herself in the last Hunger Games. She did it one time, near the end. How did she do that again? The memories were kind of fuzzy… oh yes, it was through the sheer power of hatred. If that was the case, then… what if this time it was the opposite? Her brother was her own _family member_ , of course she didn’t want him dead. She would do anything to keep him alive and safe. Even if he was akumatized, he was still Jalil. Was it possible that caring about someone enough could stop her death touch from working on them…?

Well, there was no way she was testing it out. For starters, she had no idea where Pharaoh was now, and he might not be so civil the next time. And there was no one else in this arena she cared about enough to test it on. Antibug was her friend, but that was it – there was nothing special there. No, it was too risky. If she tried it and failed, there would be no going back in time to prevent that death. Hawk Moth would make sure of that.

“I’m tired,” Evillustrator whined. “My feet hurt. Can we rest now?”

“Ugh, fine,” Antibug snapped. “Though next time you can draw yourself a jetpack so you don’t have to use your feet, considering they’re so useless anyway.”

“Hey, my feet aren’t useless-”

“Oh shut up.”

Sitting down on a nearby log, Timebreaker took off her helmet. That thing just annoyed her a lot for some reason. She had a feeling it was something to do with what happened in the previous Games, but she just couldn’t remember it properly.

“Your hair is so messy,” Antibug said, walking over and sitting beside her. “Doesn’t it annoy you?”

“Nah, I don’t really care.”

“No, of course you don’t… But I do, so we’re going to do something about it. How about matching team hairstyles? And when Vanisher joins the team, I can do her hair too! I mean, we won’t be able to see it, but at least it’ll be there.”

“I don’t want a matching hairstyle,” Evillustrator piped up.

“I wasn’t talking to _you_ , good grief. Your hair will always look like a bunch of paintbrushes dipped in tomato ketchup no matter what I do with it. So you just sit over there and be quiet. Oh, and draw me a hair tie, if you please, so that I can make dear Timebreaker here look almost as fabulous as me.”

“You sound like Reflekta,” he muttered, but he drew a hair tie and threw it at Antibug.

“Right,” Antibug said, frowning. “What sort of style are we going to do? Your hair is much too short to do much with… I suppose I’ll try something, though…”

She used her fingers to unravel all the tangles in the mess of pink hair, then took a few strands from the front on each side and tied them up at the back.

“There! You look much better now! Evillustrator, can you draw a mirror?”

“No,” he huffed.

“It’s fine,” Timebreaker said, picking up her helmet and taking a quick look at her reflection on the glass. “Okay, cool.”

“Cool?” Antibug asked. “Is that all you have to say about it?”

“Uh, yeah? It’s just hair…”

Antibug rolled her eyes, then untied her own hair and did it in the same style. “There, that’s better. I’m sure I look wonderful, as always – and Evillustrator, if you dare make a giant flying hairdryer to ruin it this time, I will actually disembowel you with my bare hands. So don’t even think about it.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Evillustrator mumbled, crossing his arms.

“Good. Anyway, you’re the one who could use a trip to the hairdresser, look at you. At least Timebreaker here looks amazing now.”

Evillustrator didn’t say anything. It was getting so frustrating already, being in a team with these two, especially when they made it clear they didn’t want him there. But at least it was better than being alone… yes, he should just endure it. He needed to keep his mind away from the volcano.


	3. Chapter 3

“Reflekta, is that you?” Princess Fragrance gasped, suddenly spotting the familiar pink outline through a gap in the trees. She rushed over to hug her, but stopped at the last second when she heard the voice.

“No, it’s not your Reflekta, she came by here not long ago and zapped me with her powers, muttering something about revenge!”

“Oh.” Princess Fragrance lifted her perfume gun and pointed it at the clone. “Who are you, then?”

“Pixelator.”

Oh yes, that guy. Revenge made perfect sense, then. After all, last time Pixelator had zapped Reflekta’s arm off. Princess Fragrance stepped up and held the gun to the side of his head. “I order you to tell me which way Reflekta went! If you don’t, or if I find out you lied to me, I’ll brainwash you.”

“She went that way,” he said, pointing away from the volcano. “And when you find her, can you make her turn me back to normal?”

“Only if you promise to obey us all the time and refuse to zap anyone.”

“What? No!”

“Then in that case I’m afraid I can’t help you. Goodbye Pixelator, and thank you for the directions.” Princess Fragrance left without another word.

 

Lady Wifi tapped Volpina on the shoulder. “Hey – have you made any illusions of Climatika lately?”

Volpina put her flute down for a few seconds. “The weather girl? No, none at all. Why, is she up to something?”

“Yeah.” Lady Wifi held up her phone. “She’s climbing the volcano. My guess is she’s going to get to the top and make a snow cyclone, in which case a heck of a lot of us might die. If it’s not one of your illusions then I suppose Bubbler and I should go and stop her.”

“Yes, that’s a good idea. I’ll let Gamer know.”

“Thanks. And listen – you need a break. You’ve been making so many illusions, you didn’t even get much sleep. Please, get some rest, okay?”

Volpina shook her head. “If I stop for too long, Hawk Moth might notice what we’re up to. I have to keep him distracted.”

“Alright, your call, but… I really think you should rest for a while. Climatika will probably end up fighting Bubbler and I so that’ll keep Hawk Moth entertained enough for some time. Just think about it.”

Volpina nodded, then raised her flute to her lips and started playing again, concentrating hard. Imagining constant battles between various villains, all without too much out-of-character injury, and especially without deaths… it was a real challenge. But it was fun, in a way. Volpina found that she didn’t _want_ to stop – though Lady Wifi was right, she was getting tired. But then again, if Gamer didn’t manage to come up with a good plan, and everyone was going to die… well, she might spend her last few days doing something she enjoyed.

 

Lady Wifi and Bubbler reached the foot of the volcano to see that Climatika was already near the top, using her control of the air currents to lift her up. Bubbler waved his bubble wand and flew a barrage of bubbles at her. Most missed but one caught her by surprise, trapping her inside.

“Nice work, Nino” Lady Wifi said, giving Bubbler a high five. “Now let’s go up and talk to her.”

They had just begun the steep climb up the volcano side when Climatika’s bubble was struck by lightning, popping it and letting her out. Even though she was far away, they could hear her laughter.

“Bubbles aren’t going to hold her – we’ve gotta try something else,” Bubbler said. “Hold on tight, Alya.” He held her round the waist, then jumped as far as he could, letting the air currents push him upwards. In just a few leaps and bounds he had managed to cover most of the distance. All the while, Lady Wifi shot as many pause buttons out of her phone as she could, trying to hit Climatika.

“You’ll never defeat me!” Climatika laughed, dodging them easily. She started shooting icicles out of her umbrella down at them. Bubbler’s free arm was hit by one and the bubble wand was knocked out of his grasp, plummeting down the side of the volcano.

“Go get your wand, I’ll take care of her,” Lady Wifi muttered. Bubbler put her down and then ran back down to find his wand. Lady Wifi flicked a fast-forward button onto the ground in front of her, then stepped onto it and zoomed up towards Climatika.

“You’re too late!” Climatika said, and flew the last few metres up to the very top of the volcano. The plateau at the top was huge and circular, like a boss battle arena, and there was a dark, steaming crater in the centre of it. Climatika pointed her umbrella up towards the sky and sent a bolt of lightning upwards into the sky. It hit the top of the force field dome but clearly Hawk Moth had made sure to make this force field immune to lightning, learning from the mistakes of _Catching Fire_ , since it didn’t break. Instead dark clouds began forming in the sky above the volcano crater and the wind picked up in speed. By the time Lady Wifi reached the crater rim, giant hailstones had started pelting her painfully.

Climatika began shooting icicles at her, almost impossible to dodge now due to the heavy winds buffeting her from every direction, not to mention her hair getting in her face and making it difficult to see clearly.

“Can’t we team up?” she tried to ask, but the wind was so loud she couldn’t even hear herself. Never mind – she would just have to stop Climatika somehow. Everyone was depending on her.

By sheer luck, she managed to hit Climatika’s arm with a lock button, slamming it to the ground so hard that the umbrella was thrown out of her hand and landed on the edge of the crater, teetering there, a few inches away from falling in.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you,” Lady Wifi said, walking over. It was still windy and her voice sounded oddly quiet, but Climatika heard her alright.

“I’m not teaming up with you!” she spat, tugging at her arm and trying to get it free. “This isn’t one of those stupid comics that kid in your class draws, you know!”

“Wait, you know about Nath’s comics?”

“Of course I do, everyone does! Anyway, if you come even a step closer I’ll rip your guts out!”

“That would be difficult with only one hand,” Lady Wifi said, smirking. She ambled over to the crater edge, then kicked the umbrella into the volcano. Peering over the edge and into the darkness, she said, “Whoops, there it goes… I think I can just about see the magma from here… looks like your umbrella isn’t going to last much longer, and neither will you.” She stepped back again, waving the steam out of her face. “Smells like sulfur.”

About a minute later, enough time for the magma inside the volcano to have destroyed the umbrella, Climatika turned back into Aurore. Just at that moment, Bubbler reached the top of the volcano, bubble wand back in his hand. The stormy weather stopped rather abruptly and the clouds dispersed, leaving it sunny and warm again.

“Where am I?” Aurore asked, looking around. “What’s going on? Wait… was I akumatized again or something?”

“Yeah, kind of,” Lady Wifi said, releasing Aurore’s arm from the lock button and going over to help her up. “Hawk Moth put us in another Hunger Games and really is trying to get us to kill people this time. I had to de-akumatize you to protect everyone.”

“Again? Ugh, can’t he leave us alone? I’ve got better things to be doing with my life than turning into a supervillain all the time… Anyway, why haven’t I been taken out of the arena yet? Isn’t that what happened last time?”

“Well that’s not happening this time,” Lady Wifi said. “Don’t worry though, we’ll protect you. We promise. Come on – let’s get away from this volcano.”

“Okay…”

Lady Wifi picked Aurore up and stepped onto a fast forward button. “Nino, you can keep up, right?”

“Of course,” Bubbler grinned.

“But he’s akumatized, his name isn’t Nino right now,” Aurore pointed out, frowning.

“I know,” Lady Wifi replied. “But he’s Nino to me. And for the record, I don’t mind if you call me Alya. It’s all the same to me now.”

Carrying Aurore, she zoomed off down the volcano, with Bubbler close behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Princess Fragrance had managed to avoid the worst of the hailstorm, and now that things had cleared up, she carried on searching for Reflekta. The only person she came across, however, was Rogercop – and it seemed that the storm earlier had caused him to start malfunctioning again. Error messages were flashing across the screen and his eyes were stuck open, unblinking. Princess Fragrance hopped up and took off his police whistle, smashing it in her hand and letting the akuma go free. Rogercop turned back into Roger.

“What’s going on?” he asked, stepping backwards suddenly when he saw Princess Fragrance.

“You’re in another Hunger Games and I doubt you’ll survive this time,” she replied. “But since you were malfunctioning, I thought it would be better to free you. You’d have more chances of survival as a trained policeman than as a malfunctioning robot, wouldn’t you? And even if you are going to die in this arena, maybe it’s better for you to die as yourself.” She curtseyed and began to walk away.

“Wait!” Roger called after her. “Do you have any idea where my daughter is?”

“No, I’m sorry. But if I find her then I’ll let her know you’re alright.”

“Oh, thank you…”

Princess Fragrance walked away, carrying on her search for Reflekta.

 

“Do you have a plan yet?” Lady Wifi asked Gamer, back in the cockpit of the mecha again.

“I’m still working on it,” he replied.

“So that’s a no.”

“I have some ideas, but… they’re all rather risky.” He sighed. “Listen… I’m not sure there even is a way to get everyone out alive. I’ll try my best, but there might be some deaths. Or rather… there might have to be some _sacrifices_.”

“I’m down for that.”

“I know _you_ are, but I don’t think it’s you I need. And as oddly nice as all the villains are being to each other this time round, I still feel like doing something as selfless as sacrificing oneself to save others is a bit beyond most people here. So just… be prepared. In case things don’t work.”

Lady Wifi rolled her eyes. “Come on, Max, have a little faith in yourself! There’s _got_ to be a way out of here, and we’ll find it! Good always triumphs over evil, you know that!”

Gamer didn’t answer for a few seconds. She had called him _Max_ … it felt weird hearing that name applied to him. Not exactly bad, just… unusual. He pushed his mind back to the conversation topic. “I’m just trying to be realistic. If I were you I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much. Worst case scenario: I don’t come up with a good enough plan or Hawk Moth finds out and stops us, and everyone dies. It’s a very real possibility and you should be prepared for that. I’ll do my best to make sure as many people live as possible, but I can’t promise anything. Make sure you’re prepared for that outcome… _Alya_.”

“Hmm… alright, if you say so…” She turned and headed towards the window to go outside. “In that case I guess I’ll go spend some time with Nino… at least I’ve got him, if I never get to see Marinette or Adrien again…”

“What about your father?”

“I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him on my cameras yet. Maybe he’s a really small animal, or maybe he’s a pigeon, or I just haven’t noticed him, or… Look, I have to go.” She left quickly. Thinking about her father… thinking about her family in general… it brought tears to her eyes.

Meanwhile Aurore sat on the ground outside, leaning against a tree, watching Volpina playing the flute. She had been going for hours now – wasn’t she getting tired? It was almost nightfall. Surely she needed to stop and eat something or have a rest.

“Hey, do you want a snack?” Aurore called to her, holding out an apple she had picked from one of the surrounding trees. At least there wasn’t a shortage of food in this arena.

“Oh…” Volpina put her flute down and headed over, sitting down beside her and taking the apple. “Thanks. I am rather hungry actually, I didn’t even realize.” She took a bite out of it.

“So, what kind of illusions have you been making?”

“Lots of things,” Volpina mumbled with her mouth full. “Stone Heart fighting Copycat, Dark Cupid fighting Darkblade, Mr Pigeon putting on a weird circus show with his pigeons, me doing illusions within illusions… It’s a lot of fun.” She yawned, putting the apple down. “I think I might actually take a nap first, then eat this apple, I’m getting really tired…”

“Yeah, apparently you didn’t have much sleep last night.”

“True, I didn’t…”

Volpina’s eyes drooped shut and she leaned forwards, then jerked awake a few seconds later. “Wow, I am _way_ more tired than I realized. I think I could fall asleep in two seconds flat.”

“Oh, I totally know the feeling, it’s so hard to stay awake when you’ve been up all night like-”

She stopped suddenly, realizing that Volpina had already fallen fast asleep on her shoulder. Aurore tried to stay as still as possible. How weird was this? A supervillain was sleeping on her shoulder in the middle of a jungle. What a day.

Aurore rested her head on top of Volpina’s and closed her eyes. She may as well try to get some sleep too, after all.

 

Night had already fallen by the time Princess Fragrance finally managed to find Reflekta, sitting on a rock by a small pond somewhere in the depths of the trees.

“Oh Reflekta, is that the real you?” she squealed, running up to her.

“Yes, it’s me!” Reflekta lifted Princess Fragrance off her feet in a tight embrace, spinning around. “I’m so happy to see you! I’ve been looking for you all over…”

“So have I…”

Reflekta put her down and took both hands gently in hers. “Princess, I actually… I have to talk to you about something. Something rather important.”

“Go ahead! Whatever it is, I’m here to listen.”

“Thank you, you really are the best, apart from me…” Reflekta took a deep breath. “It’s just that… you know this time most of us won’t make it out of here alive. I don’t think anyone here wants to kill anyone anyway, but that just means we’ll all die in the volcano blast. And if we really only do have a few days left to live, then there’s no time to waste. I absolutely _must_ tell you something.”

“Oh darling, please do.”

“Princess Fragrance… _Rose_ … I…” She looked down at her feet. “I don’t even know how to say it…”

“Just listen to your heart!”

Reflekta nodded – of course Princess Fragrance would say something like that. “The truth is that… well… whether I’m Reflekta or Juleka, it doesn’t make a difference anymore, the way I feel about you. You’re just… you’ve always been there for me. You’ve always been my best friend. I love spending time with you, and I love the way you’re always so cheerful and helpful and sweet, and always helping me out, and being kind and wonderful… and you’re a beautiful person, you know, inside and out, and… well…”

“Oh Reflekta, that’s so lovely of you to say,” Princess Fragrance whispered.

“I’m not finished yet. I also wanted to say that… the way I feel about you, it’s… Oh, I don’t want to ruin things but…”

“I promise that whatever you’re going to say won’t ruin anything, my sweet Reflekta. I’m always here for you.”

Reflekta suddenly got down on one knee. “Princess Fragrance, Rose Lavillant, I love you so much and would you… w-would you do the honour of spending the rest of my short life with me?”

Princess Fragrance stared in shock, a hand over her mouth. “Reflekta… Juleka… are you asking me to marry you?”

“Yes…”

“In that case yes yes yes! I do! I accept!” She lunged at Reflekta, enveloping her in a hug so tight they fell to the ground and lay there, sprawled over each other. “I love you so much too! I only wish I’d told you earlier, but…”

“I wish I’d told _you_ earlier!”

Princess Fragrance giggled, then gave her new wife a quick kiss on the lips. “Well, thank you for being brave enough to tell me. If we are going to die in the next few days, at least I’m happy knowing I’m with you. Princess Reflekta. Or perhaps Princess Juleka, whichever one you prefer.”

“I think Princess Juleka Lavillant has a nice ring to it.”

“So does Princess Rose Couffaine!”

They both burst into another fit of giggles. Somewhere not too far away, Lady Wifi and Bubbler watched the event on Lady Wifi’s phone, tears springing to both their eyes.

“I knew those two were perfect for each other,” Lady Wifi said, unable to stop smiling.

“Yeah…” Bubbler looked at her out of the side of his eye. “Speaking of which… How do you think “Alya Lahiffe” sounds?”

“What? I’m not changing my surname! Though you’re welcome to go with “Nino Césaire” for the last few days of your life.”

“So are we getting married too, then?”

Lady Wifi laughed. “Neither of us are old enough, but you know what? I don’t care. Let’s get married.” She pulled a long blade of grass from the ground, knotted it into a loop, then slid it onto Bubbler’s ring finger. “Here you go, babe. Let’s hope we survive this.”

Bubbler did the same with another blade of grass and put it on Lady Wifi’s ring finger. “Yeah. Let’s hope we survive.”


	5. Chapter 5

Sabrina looked around – where was she? Somewhere dark? It felt like she had just woken up from a dream. She seemed to be on a rocky black ledge of some sort. The temperature was too warm for comfort, and the air smelt like sulfur. What on earth was going on?

Looking down, she noticed that in her hand she was holding a broken brooch. A little distance away from her, a little black butterfly was flapping around, and a few seconds later it had disappeared. Of course… the memories were coming back to her now. Hawk Moth had put her into another Hunger Games. Only this time, there was no way to be saved.

She stood up and walked over to the edge of the ledge. It seemed to open up into some kind of giant cavern. Looking down, she saw that somewhere far below there was a huge pool of something, glowing orange, with huge amounts of steam rising from it. Far above her head, she could see the tiniest sliver of daylight.

No way… had Hawk Moth really started her off _inside_ the volcano? That was so unfair! She didn’t have any powers, there was no way she could get herself out! The only way to escape would be if someone actually abseiled into the volcano and found her there, or happened to peer in from the top at the exact right angle! Unless she somehow outlived all the others, how was she supposed to have any chance of surviving?

And now she remembered, that was why she had de-akumatized herself. Whether she was Vanisher or Sabrina made almost no difference now – being invisible wouldn’t help her in any way. In fact, it was _more_ inconvenient. At least this way there was a slim chance of someone spotting her.

More memories came back to her. She had already spent a day in the arena, and yesterday there had been some kind of storm on the surface, and she had called up for help but no one heard her, so she began rationing the food and water that she had in her bag…

She hoped and prayed for some miracle to happen. She couldn’t just die here alone, starving to death, or being blown up when the volcano exploded. That wasn’t how she wanted to go. She was far too young to die. But without outside help, was there really any chance of her surviving? No, there wasn’t… maybe she should just start preparing for the worst.

Wait – what about her phone? It must be somewhere in her bag! Maybe she could use it to contact Lady Wifi! She opened her bag up and scrambled to find her phone … only to discover that it was out of battery. Well, never mind. She probably wouldn’t have got any signal in a volcano anyway…

 

Meanwhile, Antibug and her teammates continued their futile search for Vanisher. They had reached an area of the arena where there was a small river, and they walked alongside it, arguing about what to do next.

“We should just stay still,” Evillustrator said. “If we haven’t found her yet then that means she must be looking for us too, so we probably keep missing her, and if we stay put then at least she’ll eventually get to us…”

“But what if she’s in trouble?” Antibug said. “And we haven’t yet searched the whole arena, so we should just keep going!”

“Seriously, is it even necessary to find her?”

“Excuse me? Of course it is! She’s my best friend, and I promised I’d team up with her! You’re just trying to be lazy, that’s what! You’re such a _coward_ , honestly-”

“Guys be quiet,” Timebreaker said. “Look at that.” She pointed to the sky above them, where something large was blocking out the sun.

“Oh, not _pigeons_ ,” Antibug sighed. Sure enough, a huge swarm of pigeons was circling them, slowly getting lower and lower to the ground. “I am _not_ in the mood for this. _Anti-Charm!_ ” She threw her yoyo in the air and it provided her with a bag of pigeon food. Simple enough. Just as the pigeons began diving, she tore open the side of it and threw the bag across the river, its contents spraying out along the way. The pigeons all chased after the bag and meanwhile the team made a hasty escape.

“Curses,” Mr Pigeon muttered, hiding in a nearby tree and watching. “I’ll get you next time.” He shook a half-hearted fist at them, but made no other move. He was feeling quite tired, really. Getting his pigeons to ambush whoever passed through the area was starting to seem somewhat… unnecessary. None of the villains were bothering to hurt his pigeons this time, after all, so was there really any reason to use them to attack anyone? Perhaps not. He picked a little purple berry off the branch next to him and popped it into his mouth. Hmm… it tasted quite bitter…

Bitter? Wait, didn’t that mean it was poisonous? He spat it out quickly. Never mind – he could find some other food to eat.

 

Antibug’s team finally stopped running (or in Timebreaker’s case, skating) once they had got far enough away. They had reached an area that looked somewhat like an orchard, with tall trees growing in neat rows far into the distance – still with purple berries hanging from their branches.

“Hey, Timebreaker…” Antibug said, leaning against a tree trunk to catch her breath, “come over here for a second…”

Timebreaker skated over while Evillustrator crossed his arms and muttered, “I guess I’ll just stand over here then… far away from you two…”

Antibug pointed upwards, at a cluster of berries just above their head. “Do you know what kind of berries these are?”

“No idea,” Timebreaker replied. “I wouldn’t eat them though, they look kinda dodgy.”

“You don’t think it’s… mistletoe… do you?”

Timebreaker took a quick step backwards. “If it is then why did you call me over here to tell me that?”

“So you could get a clearer look at it…”

“It’s not mistletoe!” Evillustrator called from several metres away. “Mistletoe has white berries!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course I’m sure!” He didn’t tell them that the reason he knew was because once upon a time he had been researching mistletoe to draw a rather romantic comic… a comic of him and Marinette… at Christmas… He shuddered, thinking about it. How embarrassing.

“Oh, well, if you say so,” Antibug said, sitting down against the trunk of the tree. “Of course, Hawk Moth could have just dyed the berries purple or something, they might be white underneath…”

“Antibug, you’re just…” Timebreaker couldn’t help but crack a grin. “… not very smooth. At all.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Maybe if you cut open that tree and let out all the _sap_ , you’d realize how similar you are to it.”

“I’m not sappy!”

“You just keep telling yourself that.” Timebreaker took off her helmet and ran a hand through her hair, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Antibug was watching her. She tried not to laugh. _Oh Antibug… you sap…_

 

Somewhere in another part of the arena, Gamer had called Volpina into the mecha to have a serious discussion with her.

“I know I said not to make illusions of anyone dying,” he said, “but I’m starting to think… maybe it’ll be worth it. Or at least, not yet, but if I don’t have a concrete plan to harness the volcano power by tomorrow noon, then it would be a good idea to make an illusion that tricks Hawk Moth into thinking someone’s died. That way he’ll postpone blowing up the volcano at sunset, and we’ll have longer to find a way out of here. But that really is only a last resort. We don’t want to pretend to cause a death too early, since so far there seems to have been a kind of fragile peace with no one fighting each other and no one wanting to be the one to make the first kill – we don’t want the sound of a cannon to upset that and begin a sudden free-for-all. So I’ll let you know tomorrow if it’ll need to come to that. But be ready.”

“Sounds good,” Volpina said, nodding. “And if I do make a death illusion, who should I pretend to kill?”

“Me.”

“You? But why?”

Gamer shrugged. “That way if Hawk Moth sees me still in the arena after I’m supposed to be dead, he’ll just think it’s one of your illusions. After all, we are friends, right, Lila? He’ll just think you’re doing it to keep yourself company.”

_Lila_. It felt strange to be called that. “Okay, that makes sense… Max. You’re right.”

“And do you by any chance happen to know where Dark Cupid is?”

“No, sorry, maybe you should ask Lady Wifi about that…”

“Oh. Okay.” Gamer sounded disappointed.

“Why did you want to know?”

“Huh? Oh, no reason…”

Lila frowned – there certainly wasn’t “no reason”. However, she didn’t press any further. Jumping out of the mecha, she went over to Lady Wifi and said, “I think Max wants to ask you something, you should go see him.”

“Okay…” Lady Wifi headed into the cockpit of the mecha. “Hey Max, what’s up?”

“Can you use your cameras to find out where Dark Cupid is?” he asked quickly.

“Yeah, sure,” Lady Wifi replied. Of course that made sense – Max would want to see his friend Kim, wouldn’t he? She pulled out her phone and started having a look. “It looks like he’s up near the top of the volcano… he’s battling Darkblade… oh no wait, that can’t be him, Volpina told me that Dark Cupid vs. Darkblade was one of her illusions, so it must be that. Hmm… I don’t see him anywhere else… Sorry Max, I don’t know. He doesn’t seem to be near any of my cameras. But I promise I’ll tell you if I find out.”

“Thank you, Alya,” he said.


	6. Chapter 6

It was true that Dark Cupid did indeed appear to be battling the knight Darkblade, who was trying to reach the top of the volcano in order to raise his flag there and turn everyone in the arena into a knight. What Lady Wifi did not know, however, was that this was no illusion – this was a real battle. Volpina had already finished her illusion of Dark Cupid vs. Darkblade and had moved onto making other pretend battles. If Lady Wifi would have known this was real, she might have interfered. Especially when, after managing to rip the flag from Darkblade’s hands and drop it into the volcano, Darkblade got revenge by messily slicing off one of Dark Cupid’s wings with his sword and pushing him into the volcano too.

The first Sabrina knew of it was when she suddenly saw Dark Cupid clinging to the corner of her ledge, trying desperately not to fall off into the magma below.

“Dark Cupid?” she said, snapping shut her geography textbook and stuffing it back in her bag. “What happened? Did you fall in?”

“What kind of stupid question is that?” he muttered. “Now will you help me up?”

“You’re not going to kill me, are you?”

“Of course not, I can’t even kill people with these arrows!”

“Alright then…”

Sabrina walked over and tentatively gave him a hand. He pulled himself onto the ledge and then immediately collapsed onto the ground.

“What happened to your wing?” Sabrina asked, shocked. One wing was normal – the other was gone, with a bloody gash in its place.

“The knight guy cut it off…”

“So then you can’t fly us out of here?”

“No…”

“Does it hurt?”

“ _Yes_ …”

Sabrina started rummaging in her bag. “Maybe if I find something to use as a rope, then you could attach it to your bow and use it as a kind of makeshift grappling hook and we could get out of here…”

“Who cares, we’re all gonna die tomorrow evening anyway.”

“Don’t say that! Of course we won’t!”

“No one’s killing anyone though, so Hawk Moth’s gonna blow up the volcano and we’ll all die… Hang on a second, what if I killed _you?_ ”

“I’ll rip off your other wing,” Sabrina snarled.

“Okay fine, I won’t kill you… but unless my wing somehow regenerates by tomorrow, there’s no way we’re surviving. And even if it does, there’s no way _you’re_ surviving. No offence. You don’t even have any powers or anything. I mean, I can fly really fast, in fact I’m probably the fastest villain here, but…”

“We’ll get out of here and we’ll all live. I know we will.” She was mostly just saying it to reassure herself. “Since _you_ managed to get in here, others might too, and they might have ways to get us out. I know we’ll make it. Right, Kim?”

“I’m not Kim, I’m Dark Cu-”

“Well you haven’t shot me with an arrow yet this time, so honestly? You seem just like a slightly more superpowered version of Kim.”

“Well… I guess I’m already pretty awesome as Kim. So yeah, you’re right.”

“And we will survive. We have to.”

She kept telling herself that, over and over. It was the only way she could keep herself sane.

 

“Alright Alya, I have a plan,” Gamer said that evening, as night was beginning to fall. “But it’s uh… it’s risky and I honestly don’t know if it’ll work. And we’ll need Princess Fragrance to agree and I’m not sure it’ll turn out that well for her. It’s sort of a last resort. If I knew more about the volcano then maybe I could figure out something else, something safer, but…”

“I can’t get my cameras inside the volcano if that’s what you’re asking,” Lady Wifi said. “I had a quick go the other day but there’s no wifi signal in there. My cameras just disappear.”

“Never mind then…”

“But there still is a way to get a look inside it, if you really want. Kung Food can make cameras too, with his dumpling things. They’re little flying ones. We could find him and see if he’ll make cameras that we could use to get a good look at the volcano interior.”

“Yes, that sounds good. Where is he?”

Lady Wifi flicked through the footage on her phone. “I’m not sure… I last saw him all the way on the other edge of the arena. I have no idea if he’s still there or not. And it’s so dark now, it’ll be difficult to find him…”

“We’ll look for him tomorrow morning,” Gamer said. “Maybe we should get some sleep tonight. And maybe you should spend some time with Nino, since… well, just in case tomorrow doesn’t go well…”

“You’re right. Thanks Max.” She headed towards the cockpit window to go back outside. Stopping for a second, she said, “I still don’t know where Kim is. Sorry.” Then she headed through and went away.

So Dark Cupid was still nowhere to be found. Gamer tried to get his mind off it. Anyway, it didn’t matter, Dark Cupid wasn’t exactly like Kim. Dark Cupid hated friendship and love and all that kind of thing. He’d probably just shoot Gamer with a hate arrow if he was here. Yes, that was right. Never mind trying to find him. It was more important to focus on the plan.

 

Fred Haprèle was just about to get to sleep when what appeared to be a little purple cat ran up into his arms. Or was it a dog? It was hard to tell in the dark. He took a closer look…

“ _Myl_ _ène?_ ”

The purple creature looked up at him, her eyes glowing happily. It really _was_ her – Horrificator, aka Mylène, his daughter.

“Oh Mylène, I’m so glad you’re alright!” He hugged the little creature. “I was hoping you would find me.”

Fang the dragon wandered over and took a sniff of this new creature. Then, deciding he didn’t like her, he growled. To Fred’s surprise, Horrificator leapt out of his arms and growled right back at Fang, who cowered away. Horrificator grew a little bigger as she absorbed Fang’s fear. She was _done_ being afraid of the other villains all the time. She hadn’t managed to find Stone Heart to protect her, so she would have to protect herself this time. And if she had to go down, this time she would go down fighting. She certainly was _not_ going to let anyone hurt her father, either. If she had to scare everyone else to become big enough to protect him, then so be it. This time she was going to be brave.


	7. Chapter 7

Tonight the arena seemed darker and quieter than before. It was eerie, like the calm before the storm. Timebreaker was first on watch while the other two were asleep. Rather than stay and keep an eye on them like she was supposed to, she headed a little further away and found a comfortable slope to lie down on. Taking off her helmet, she lay on her back and looked at the stars above her, shining through the gaps in the trees. It would probably be the last time she'd get to see them.

Anyway, the others didn't need her supervision. It wasn't like there had been any deaths yet, so there probably weren't going to be. At least not until the volcano explosion the next day. And what did it matter? They were all going to die anyway...

"Mind if I join you?"

It was Antibug. Timebreaker gave a vague shrug.

"Thanks. I couldn't get to sleep anyway." Antibug lay down beside Timebreaker. "Hey, there's white stuff up in the trees... is _that_ mistletoe?"

"Those are _stars_ , Antibug," Timebreaker said, trying to suppress a grin. "But nice try. So... why couldn't you get to sleep?"

"I was just... thinking about tomorrow. Do you think we'll have to kill people?"

"I don't know. I don't _want_ to, but... what other options are there? Either way, most or all of us will be dead within 24 hours. I'll probably just not kill anyone and then hope I survive the volcano blast. After that, I have no idea. I'll think about it if I make it that long."

"Yes, me too..." Antibug suddenly turned onto her side to face her. "What's this green thing on your arm?" She took Timebreaker's arm in her hand, looking at the neon green patch that almost seemed to glow in the dark, casting a haunting green light onto everything.

"Oh that? It tells me how much time I've collected when I kill people."

"Huh... it's pretty cool... it doesn't say anything on it though..."

"That's because I haven't killed anyone, obviously."

"Oh yes, of course! Silly me..."

Timebreaker noticed Antibug had still not let go of her arm. In fact, her fingers seemed to have moved down a little bit. And then a bit further. And then even further. "You know, if you're going to be sappy then at least admit it..."

It was hard to tell in the dark, but it seemed like Antibug was blushing. "What? No, I'm not _sappy_ , I'm just being friendly!"

"And you're pretty close to death, too. Remember, if you touch the palm of my hand, you die."

Antibug finally let go. "I was being careful but fine..."

"I don't mind, by the way, I'm just warning you."

"Oh, okay..."

Antibug held her arm again - or was it her wrist? It seemed to be like she was trying to get as close as possible to holding her hand without actually holding her hand.

"So," Antibug said. "Are you... are you afraid of dying tomorrow?"

"I don't even care at this point. Maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet, I don't know. But then what's even the point of surviving this time? No one else would be alive. You'd just have to go back to normal life, except it wouldn't be normal, because everyone's dead... that seems scarier to me right now than dying, to be honest. And I know I'm gonna die in here. Hawk Moth will make sure of it, he hates me." She turned onto her side to face Antibug, getting sick of lying in the same position for so long. "Are _you_ afraid of dying?"

"Maybe a bit," Antibug admitted. "I just don't want to die - I'm so young, I have so much more of my life to live! But if I'm the one who makes it out alive, then that would mean you're dead, and I don't want you to die..."

"Well I'm probably going to die no matter what happens. But for the record, I don't want you to die either."

Antibug smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah. You're my friend, right? You've called me that like a million times now. If I didn't care I would have let you die off in the first Games."

"Oh... well, thanks for not letting me die, then. It's a nice thought."

It was indeed a nice thought. Timebreaker really was glad to have a friend here in the arena - someone who cared about her for once, someone who actually liked her. Antibug was someone she could actually trust.

Was it enough? Timebreaker was very, very tempted to test out if the death touch had stopped working with Antibug, too. But then... what if she still didn't care enough? What if Antibug accidentally died? There would be no going back to erase that mistake, not with Hawk Moth's threat hanging in the air. Maybe it was just better to not risk it for now. At least until she was more sure.

Antibug, on the other hand, was very sure. She knew she cared a lot about Timebreaker. Her... friend. Yes, friend. It was friendship, definitely. Best friendship, in fact. They had been together since the start of the first Games and were still together now. They made such a great team. And spending this night here with her... it felt nice. Like the dread in her heart about tomorrow had been temporarily lifted.

And holding the back of Timebreaker's hand, too, that felt nice... for friendly reassurance, of course. She would have preferred to hold her hand properly, but for now she made do with bringing their hands closer to her face so she could see, carefully lacing their fingers together, trying to stop her own fingers shaking even though she didn't know why...

Or perhaps she did know why...

But no, it couldn't be true. Antibug was a _villain_ , and not a sappy one at that. She wasn't anything like Evillustrator or Princess Fragrance or even Reflekta. She didn't care about people like _that_.

But what other explanation was there?

No, it still had to be something else. Maybe she was just lonely. Yes, that was it. She knew she was about to die so she was lonely and scared, and so it was no wonder she felt such relief at being in the presence of another human. And of course this human happened to be her friend Timebreaker, but that had nothing to do with it. It was just a combination of friendliness, loneliness, and relief. Yes.

_Phew_. She wasn't sappy after all. Thank goodness that was sorted out. About to say something else, she lifted her eyes away from her hands and...

Oh.

"What are you staring at?" Timebreaker asked her.

She gulped and tried to say something. But what could she even say? _I was staring at your eyes because I never realized what a deep blue they were?_ No, that was ridiculous. And it was sappy. Definitely not.

"N-nothing," she said.

"Doesn't look like nothing," Timebreaker said, grinning. Antibug could feel her face heating up - she hardly ever saw Timebreaker smile this much.

"I was just... are you sure that's not mistletoe?" she gabbled before she could stop herself. No! Why did she keep going on about mistletoe? That was _really_ sappy!

Timebreaker didn't even reply, she just laughed. Antibug felt her breath catch in her throat - she was quite sure she didn't remember Timebreaker laughing so happily before. Usually it was just evil laughter. It sounded... refreshing.

_Snap out of it!_ she told herself. But by this time she could hear her heart beat in her ears, and it was going much faster than it should have been. No, this was not acceptable. She should just move away now and stop this nonsense.

...She moved a little closer instead. She wasn't even sure why. But she knew it made that fuzzy feeling in her chest grow a little stronger, and it felt strangely good.

"Um, no offence Antibug, but this does not seem like merely friendship to me," Timebreaker said.

Oh, whoops. Their faces were far too close now. But still, Timebreaker hadn't moved away, and for some reason the thought made Antibug's heart flutter a little too much for friendship. Oh no... there was no denying it now.

"Alright, fine, but does it really matter?" she replied. "This might be our last night alive, and I don't want to go to sleep, I just want to spend it with someone I care about... because I c-care about you... a lot..."

Timebreaker was silent for a long, long time. Antibug wondered if she had ruined everything. But finally, Timebreaker said, "I care about you too, Antibug."

Antibug thought her heart was going to burst, it was beating so fast. She realized that they were still almost holding hands... and it suddenly wasn't enough.

Lifting Timebreaker's fingers up to her face, she gently pressed them to her lips. Wow... it felt _electrifying_.

"You're playing with fire," Timebreaker said. "Like, you're literally about 2 millimetres away from death right now."

"I don't care," Antibug mumbled. Maybe she should be more careful, but... she just couldn't help it. It felt so good. What material were their suits made from, anyway? It smelled like a mix of leather and spandex, though it was probably neither of those. She breathed in deeply, trying to calm her racing heart. It didn't work.

"Yeah, this is definitely not friendshippy," Timebreaker muttered.

"Sorry, I just..."

"I don't mind. I'm just saying."

Antibug suddenly noticed Timebreaker watching her intently. How long had she been doing that for? What was she even thinking? Did she feel the same way? And why were those blue eyes so _piercing_... and vivid... and clear...

Without thinking, Antibug put a hand on her shoulder and turned her onto her back again, laying over her. They were so close now that she could feel her breath on her face - warm, with a hint of apples. The air felt like it was filled with static. And yet, the space between them still felt too much, like Antibug should just move closer, even closer, closing the gap, until their lips-

Oh boy. Did she really just have that thought? Looking at Timebreaker's lips, she felt a tingle run up her spine... Okay, she definitely did have that thought. Welp. Dare she even do it? She certainly _wanted_ to, more than anything right now... she just wanted to close that gap between them and actually feel what it would be like...

Before she could change her mind, Antibug leaned down and, very softly, kissed her.

So warm... so gentle...

"Not gonna lie, that was pretty gay," Timebreaker said.

"Mhm." Antibug was too overwhelmed to be able to speak. Her face felt like it was on fire. And her lips... they were hypersensitive. Still tingling. So was her spine. And she didn't even want to think about what her heart was doing.

Had she been holding her breath? She hadn't even realized. Exhaling, she slumped down, burying her face in Timebreaker's messy pink hair. She couldn't help running her fingers through it. It smelled like some kind of shampoo, though she couldn't tell what...

"So, are we girlfriends now or what?" Timebreaker asked.

There was only one day to go before everyone died. Why not.

"Yes," Antibug mumbled. She suddenly felt something on her back - and it wasn't just the shudders. It was Timebreaker. She had her arms wrapped around her.

"Don't worry, you're not gonna die, I promise my fists are tightly closed."

So, Antibug wasn't the only sappy one after all, it seemed. "Can I... can I kiss you again?" she asked.

"Sure."

The second one was even better than the first - though that may have been because it was longer. Antibug rested her forehead on Timebreaker's, their noses touching.

"We're not telling Evillustrator about this, right?"

"No way."

"Do you think he'd be jealous?"

"Yeah, probably."

Antibug grinned. Having a girlfriend was already fun. And since everyone was probably going to die tomorrow, well... she may as well make the most of it tonight.

 

Back in his lair, Hawk Moth was flicking through his arena journals, chucking quietly to himself. Gamer and his villain team really thought they were so smart, didn’t they? They thought they could fool Hawk Moth himself. Pah! How pathetic. Hawk Moth had already anticipated that Volpina might trick him with her illusions, so he had created a scanner that would be able to tell him _exactly_ where the real Volpina was and what she was up to. He knew about their plan perfectly well.

And not only that, but he knew their plan would not work, no matter what.

He had reached the right page in the journals. Max had remembered the phrase as “ _The volcano does not contain enough lava to reach the force field._ ” Little did that poor child know that he was one letter off, and that one letter was going to cost him his life. The real phrase was “ _The volcano does not contain enough lava to breach the force field._ ”

“ _Breach_ ”, not “ _reach_ ”.

No matter how much the villains tried, there was simply not enough lava in the volcano to break the force field. Weaken it maybe, but there was no way to break it open. Even if they somehow managed to focus the impact or cause an explosion, anything like that, it simply wouldn’t work. They were doomed to fail right from the start. And when the volcano inevitably exploded tomorrow evening, they would all lose their precious little lives and it would serve them right.

Hawk Moth couldn’t wait to see it.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, somewhere between mid-morning and noon, Lady Wifi headed to the other side of the arena to track down Kung Food and ask for use of his cameras. Meanwhile Bubbler was sent to get Princess Fragrance and bring her back to their base so that Gamer could discuss the plan with her. There wasn’t much time left, after all, less than 24 hours now.

“Oh, hello Bubbler!” Princess Fragrance said brightly as soon as she saw him walk into view. “I simply _have_ to tell you about the most amazing thing that happened the other night!”

“I already know,” he replied, “and I sincerely congratulate you two on your new marriage. You guys make a totally fab couple.”

“Thank you so much! But how on earth did you know?”

“Alya’s cameras.”

Princess Fragrance laughed. “Oh yes, I had completely forgotten about those! Anyway, what are you doing here? Do you want to team up or something? I would love to, and I’m sure Juleka would too – would you?”

“Definitely,” said Reflekta.

“Yes, it would be lovely!”

“Well,” Bubbler said, scratching his head, “it’s kinda more complicated than that. You know how the volcano’s gonna blow this evening? Gamer’s come up with a plan to use it to get us outta this arena but he needs your help with it so he sent me to come and get you.”

“Oh my, that sounds like a wonderful idea! What are we waiting for?” She took Reflekta’s hand in hers. “Bubbler, show us the way!”

“Oh yeah, and by the way, me and Alya got married last night too. For the record.”

“That’s incredible – oh, I’m so happy for you two!”

Bubbler showed them the grass ring on his finger. “Me and her made these for each other last night.”

“That’s a pretty good idea,” Reflekta said, picking a blade of grass from the ground. “Rose, hold out your hand for a second…” She tied the blade around Princess Fragrance’s ring finger.

“Juleka, it’s _perfect_ , thank you so much! Your turn now…” Princess Fragrance did the same to Reflekta, somehow managing to knot the grass blade in a tiny little bow. “There we go! Now we’re properly married. Anyway, let’s go sort out that plan and save the day!”

 

By the time Bubbler brought Princess Fragrance and Reflekta back to Gamer, Lady Wifi had already managed to find Kung Food and bring him back too. They all met up inside Gamer’s cockpit – it was getting somewhat crowded in there now. It was already afternoon, and the sun had passed its highest point in the sky. There were only a few hours left at most.

“Here’s the plan,” Gamer said. “It’s incredibly risky and I have no idea if it’ll work, but it’s our only shot. Basically, the lava inside the volcano is synthetic and therefore it doesn’t act exactly like real lava would – it is far more volatile and explosive, and also has the unique property in that at sufficiently high concentrations it is capable of destroying the force field surrounding the arena. The volcano eruption will not throw the lava out at high enough velocities to allow it to reach the force field, so what we need is a way to propel it there. That’s where you come in, Princess Fragrance. What I propose is that you start heading up to the top of Mt Power as soon as possible and, just before the it begins erupting, release as much perfume into the sky above it as possible. When the lava comes out of the volcano it’ll hit the perfume, causing explosions that should propel it far enough into the sky that it hits the force field, breaking open a part of it, which will cause the entire thing to become unstable and collapse, giving us an exit from the arena.”

“But will Rose be okay?” Refletka asked immediately.

“If she gets away from the volcano in time then hopefully she’ll be fine…”

“Isn’t there a less risky way to do this?”

“That’s just what we’re trying to find out. Alya, Kung Food, any luck?”

Lady Wifi and Kung Food were looking at a screen that one of Kung Food’s flying dumplings was showing them. It was connected to another one which they had remotely sent into the volcano.

“You’re not gonna believe this!” Lady Wifi said. “There’s a ledge in the volcano and it looks like someone’s on it, can we get the camera a bit closer – oh my gosh! It’s Sabrina and Kim!”

Gamer immediately stood up and ran over to have a look. “Did you say Kim?”

“Yeah, well Dark Cupid, but – look! Can they see us? Yes, they’re waving… Hey guys! Can you hear us?”

Sure enough, on the screen, Sabrina and Dark Cupid stood on the ledge, waving at the camera. “We can hear you!” Sabrina called back. “Can you get us out of here? The magma in the volcano seems to be getting more… jumpy…”

“Can’t Dark Cupid fly you out?”

“He got one of his wings cut off.”

“Oh … in that case don’t worry, we’ll definitely get you out of there!” Lady Wifi said. “I’ll send Antibug – she’s your friend, right? She has a yoyo, I’m sure she can easily get you out. I’ll go find her right now, in fact. The rest of you, keep working on the plan.” She quickly left the cockpit, whipping out her phone and checking for Antibug’s location in the meantime.

“Kim… you’re okay…” Gamer wished he could launch himself into the screen and hug him, but he would just have to wait.

“So, um, is there any other way we can do this plan?” Princess Fragrance asked, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I would be willing to go ahead with the plan you suggested, but if there is a safer method then that would be better…”

“I’ll have a quick look. Kung Food, can you fly the camera around the volcano interior?”

Kung Food nodded. Gamer watched the screen as the camera flitted around from place to place, but as far as he could tell there was nothing useful. It was just rock and magma on the inside and that was it.

“Looks like we really will have to go ahead with the original plan,” he said. “Sorry, Princess Fragrance. You’ll have to risk your life.”

“That’s okay,” she said, smiling and giving him a big double thumbs up. “I’ll do it. Just let me know when I need to leave so I can get to the top of the volcano in time.”

“I’d say you should leave within the next ten minutes.”

“Are you _sure_ there isn’t some other way?” Reflekta said suddenly. “This sounds so dangerous… what if the lava hits you, Rose? What then?”

“I’ll be safe, don’t worry,” Princess Fragrance said, putting an arm round Reflekta. “I’ll be careful.”

“I know you will, but… just in case… what if…”

“Then at least you’ll be safe! It’s going to be alright, Juleka!” She went up on tiptoes and hugged her tightly. “I have to do this, okay darling? This is the only way we have a chance of surviving!”

Reflekta had started crying by now. “Can I at least come with you?”

“No, you stay far away from the volcano, I don’t want you to get hurt unnecessarily!”

“Oh _Rose_ , you’re so brave…”

“So are you, Juleka… Listen, I lo-”

“No don’t!” Reflekta said quickly, stepping back. “Don’t say anything like that! No “I love you”, no “goodbye”, just don’t jinx it! _Please!_ I just want you to be okay… you deserve that, you know, you’ve never done anything wrong to anyone, you don’t deserve to die…”

“None of us deserve this,” Princess Fragrance said, tears starting to roll down her cheeks too. “But I’m going to try my best to make it right. And alright, I won’t say goodbye or I love you, but… oh come here Juleka!” She leapt forwards and kissed her.

“We’ll, um, just be outside…” Gamer muttered, taking Kung Food and Bubbler by the arms and dragging them out of the cockpit to outside, where Volpina and Aurore were waiting. He was not in the mood for being a third wheel to those lovebirds.

 

Somewhere in another part of the arena, Evillustrator was also not in the mood for being a third wheel. Neither of the other two in his team had even said a word to him today. But then again, they didn’t really seem to be speaking much to each other either, and it all sounded somewhat awkward – had he missed something?

Lady Wifi suddenly crashed through the trees. “Antibug, there you are!” she said, hopping off the fast forward button and running up to her.

“Lady Wifi? What’s going-”

“I know where Vanisher is!”

Antibug’s face lit up. “Really? Where?”

“She’s actually de-akumatized right now, she’s Sabrina, anyway she’s stuck on a little ledge just inside the volcano, she’s safe don’t worry but she can’t get out. Dark Cupid’s there too but he’s lost a wing so he can’t fly them out. Anyway I came here to tell you that you should probably go and get them out and before the volcano explodes, because otherwise they’ll die. Like, I’d say leave _within the next five minutes_ if you want them to survive.”

“But…” Antibug frowned. “Aren’t we all going to die anyway when the volcano blows up?”

“No actually, because _my_ villain team have actually been working on a plan to get us out of here. It involves Princess Fragrance shooting enough perfume into the sky that the lava will explode when it hits it, and that might break the force field open and we can escape. And I don’t know if it’ll work or if anyone will survive but at least we’ve been _trying_ to be productive and distracting Hawk Moth, unlike _you_ lazy gal pals off having a vacation in the spirit world or whatever.”

Antibug blushed. “W-what?”

“Don’t forget, I have cameras everywhere, I see _everything_. I’m glad you’ve been having fun but it’s time to actually do something useful now. Go save your friends!”

Lady Wifi hopped back onto her fast forward button and zoomed off again.

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to go…” Antibug said, turning to her teammates. “I have no idea if I’ll make it back here again before the volcano explodes so I don’t know if I’ll see you again… _ever_ … but I really need to save Sabrina if I can, she is my best friend… and Dark Cupid – I suppose Kim can count as a friend too, he’s always seemed to like me a lot…”

“Do I count as a friend?” Evillustrator asked quietly.

“Maybe a bit,” Antibug replied, smiling a little. “I know you’re rather annoying, but uh… I do feel rather bad about how mean to you I was during the last Games. I hope I’ve been a little better this time.”

“You’ve been a _lot_ better this time.”

“Thank you. You have too, for the record. You’ve been standing up for yourself a lot more and not being so much of a softie like you were the first time – though maybe I shouldn’t be proud for having tortured you into changing your personality like that.”

“That wasn’t really you, you know? That was the akumatized side of yourself, the side that Hawk Moth controls. It was awful, but… I blame Hawk Moth for that, not you.”

“That’s a relief to hear. Anyway, it was nice knowing you, Evillustrator. I think you’re alright. And if we do somehow make it out of here in one piece, I’ll buy you a real giant drawing tablet and all the computer art software you want. I promise.”

“Really?!”

“Yes. I’m not taking my classmates for granted anymore.”

Evillustrator turned away, his eyes filling with tears.

“Are you crying? Alright, I take back what I said about you not being a softie. But I’m still buying you that art stuff if we somehow survive.”

“Thanks… listen, you should go now…”

“Wait, first I have to talk to…” Antibug turned and looked at Timebreaker, who was standing a few metres away with her arms folded, not really saying anything. Antibug felt at a loss for words – what could she possibly say? She walked over and took off the helmet, putting it down on the ground beside them. “Heh, you still have the cute matching hairstyle I gave you…”

Even without the helmet on, the expression on Timebreaker’s face was unreadable. After a few seconds of silence she said, “Antibug, hold out your hands.”

“Um, alright…” Antibug held her hands out.

“Now just trust me, okay?”

Before Antibug could even process what was happening, Timebreaker reached out and held her hands. For a few seconds Antibug stood frozen in shock. But then she realized… she was still breathing. How was that possible? She should be dead!

“Why am I still alive?” she said. “I thought if you do that it kills people!”

Timebreaker grinned suddenly. “So _that’s_ how my powers work…”

“You can control them? I had no idea!”

“Well, kind of… the other day when my brother got me out of the cave, I didn’t tell you but I accidentally knocked him with my hand and he didn’t die, so that got me thinking… if I care about someone enough, will my death touch just not work on them? And I didn’t want to try it out before in case it killed you, but, um… after last night… well…”

Antibug didn’t even say anything, she just stepped forwards and hugged Timebreaker tightly.

“Um, you probably need to leave now,” Evillustrator muttered after what must have been at least half a minute. He really did feel like he was missing something – last night? What had happened last night? What on earth were they talking about?

Antibug whispered something in Timebreaker’s ear, then let go and ran off towards the volcano without another word.

“So…” Evillustrator said. “What exactly did she mean by-”

“Don’t ask,” Timebreaker snapped.

“But…” All of a sudden, something in his brain seemed to click. “Wait a second… are you telling me… _you and her_ -”

“I said don’t ask!” Timebreaker turned away and sat on the ground, refusing to look in the direction of the volcano. She could feel her eyes prickling and she didn’t bother to try hiding it this time. They were all probably going to die, it didn’t matter anyway. At least she knew now that there were some people that her death touch couldn’t kill because she cared too much, and it wasn’t even just family members. Strong friendship could work just as well. And, of course, whatever she had with Antibug, which she certainly couldn’t consider friendship at this point…

“She’ll be okay,” Evillustrator said, sitting down beside Timebreaker. “We all will.”

If only. Timebreaker hugged her knees to her chest, the things Antibug had whispered to her still playing over and over in her mind.

_I promise I’ll try and survive._

Yeah, she’d better. Having one of the people you cared about most just straight-up dying on you would not be a fun experience.

_If that flipping tomato wasn’t here I would kiss you._

Of course, that much was obvious. They had barely even talked to each other today, considering that Evillustrator was there the whole time. It was probably too late to hide that now, though. He must have figured it out. He couldn’t be _that_ oblivious. In any case they probably wouldn’t get a chance to do that again.

_I love you, Alix._

Antibug had called her by her real name. No… _Chlo_ _é_ had called her by her real name. Somehow, that affected her more than everything else combined. Why hadn’t she said something back? Now she probably wouldn’t ever get a chance to. If the plan didn’t work, she would never see her again. She would never see _anyone_ again. Not Chloé, not her family, not Ladybug and Chat Noir…

_I love you too, Chloé_ , she thought. _I wish I could have told you properly_.


	9. Chapter 9

From the top of the volcano, Antibug swung herself down and landed on the ledge.

“Chloé!” Sabrina gasped, running over and hugging her. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here! I’m so glad to see you!”

“You too, Sabrina!” Antibug laughed and hugged her friend tightly. She hadn’t realized quite how much she had missed her. “I’ll get you out of here, I promise. We might actually survive the volcano blast – Lady Wifi said her team have a plan to break open the force field, just like in _Catching Fire_ , isn’t that so cool? Anyway, hold on tight, I’ll get us out…”

Carrying Sabrina with one arm, she swung back up and put her on the rim of the crater, then went back in and did the same for Dark Cupid, who was much heavier.

“The air smells so fresh out here!” Sabrina said. “And it’s so bright, and… wow, the view’s so nice, it looks like a forest or something…”

“We should probably get away from the volcano before it explodes,” Antibug advised. “Like, far, _far_ away. I know – Kim, I’ll de-akumatize you so that you’re lighter, then you carry Sabrina and I’ll carry you, and then I’ll use my yoyo to get us out of here quickly.”

“Can’t you just use Anti-Charm?” Dark Cupid pointed out.

“Oh yes good point… wait, do you think I could use it to stop the volcano somehow?”

“I don’t think Hawk Moth would give you any item that could do that, to be honest.”

“Yes, you’re right… okay, well anyway… _Anti-Charm!_ ”

The item that landed on the ground in front of her was a sled.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” she said to the others. “Get in, losers! We’re going sledding.”

Just at that moment, Princess Fragrance reached the top of the volcano, out of breath.

“Oh, it’s you!” Antibug said, waving at her. “Good luck with the volcano plan! I’m totally rooting for you!”

“Thank you,” Princess Fragrance gasped out, leaning over to catch her breath.

“And for the record, just in case I never get a chance to say it again… I don’t actually think your perfume smells awful. It’s quite nice. Keep on rocking it.”

“That’s very sweet of you! Good luck to you too!”

Antibug, Sabrina and Dark Cupid all sat in the sled, then pushed it over the outside edge of the crater and went quickly zooming down the side of the volcano. Princess Fragrance watched them and couldn’t help giggling a little to herself – that was never a sight she had expected to see in her life.

A low rumble from the volcano reminded her of the task at hand. Pointing her perfume gun up above her head, she pulled the trigger and started shooting vast amounts of the sweet pink spray into the sky. The volcano rumbled again, and this time she felt the ground move a little too. Clearly there wasn’t much time left. Turning around, she saw that the sun was red and getting very low in the sky indeed. Steam was starting to surge out of the crater, making the air stink of rotten eggs. Did that mean it was poisonous? In any case, if she didn’t get out of there soon enough, she would definitely die.

The truth was, though… she didn’t expect to make it out alive. In order for the others to have the best chance of survival they could, she absolutely _had_ to get as much perfume into the sky as possible. Leaving too soon just was not an option. If it killed her then so be it. At least that way, Reflekta… _Juleka_ … would live. That was what really mattered to her.

 

The rumbling of Mt Power was loud enough to be heard all over the arena. Gamer sat outside his mecha, leaning against a tree, staring absently at the volcano without really registering it. Lady Wifi had Bubbler with her, and Volpina seemed to be getting along well with Aurore, and Kung Food was treating his little flying dumplings like comforting pets…

Gamer wished Kim was here with him. He wished he could tell him how much he cared about him. If the plan didn’t work then it would be too late – Kim would never know how much he meant to him. It was just… _unfair_.

He was startled out of his thoughts at the sight of what seemed to be a _sled_ rushing down the side of the volcano. It was too far away for him to clearly see who was on it, but surely that could only be Dark Cupid? Well, and Antibug and Sabrina, but whatever. Gamer leapt to his feet and jumped back into his mecha. Lurching the controls forward he pushed the mecha towards the volcano as fast as he could, knocking over countless trees in the way. By the time he made it to the foot of the volcano, the sled had just about reached there too – sure enough, Dark Cupid was on it. Gamer jumped out of the cockpit and ran to him, knocking him over in a huge hug.

“Max, is that you?” he said, getting back up and picking up the arrows that had fallen out of his quiver.

“Yes, and I’m so happy you’re safe – listen, I want to talk to you about something but probably not here or we’ll end up getting hit by the lava. Everyone get in the mecha, I’ll take us somewhere safer.”

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Dark Cupid’s hand and pulled him into the cockpit. Antibug and Sabrina quickly followed. Gamer steered them back towards the base where Lady Wifi and the others were waiting.

“What did you want to talk about?” Dark Cupid asked.

“I just want you to know that I’m grateful for you being my friend and I really care about you,” Gamer said quickly, not looking at him.

“Oh. Well, uh… I really don’t like friendship or love, so…”

Gamer sighed. Of course. He was talking to Dark Cupid, not Kim. Never mind, then.

“…so I should probably get rid of this.” Dark Cupid took off the brooch and snapped it in his hand. The akuma flew out (which Antibug quickly purified) and Dark Cupid quickly turned back into Kim.

“Let me guess, I was akumatized again?” he asked.

“Oh Kim…” Gamer barely dared to get his hopes up. “How much do you remember?”

“Um… I think I was just on a sled… and I got my wing cut off… and then you told me you love me so I broke the brooch and-”

His face went red suddenly. Gamer’s purple skin was going red too – he didn’t realize Kim had thought of what he had told him as a declaration of love. True, that was what he had meant, but…

“You want me to smash your glasses too so you can hang out like normal people?” Antibug asked, smiling at them.

“Uh, yes please,” Gamer said, handing his glasses to her. “The mecha will disappear, but…”

“It won’t protect you from the lava anyway, you know that. It’s okay. Just be yourself.” She snapped the glasses and purified the akuma, the mecha vanishing and Gamer turning back into Max.

“Good to see you, Max,” Kim said, giving him a hug.

“Oh… good to see you too, Kim,” Max said. He remembered _everything_. “There’s probably less than a 50% chance of us surviving, by the way.”

“Well then, there’s no one I’d rather spend my last moments with.”

“Me too.”

 

Princess Fragrance was so dizzy, she knew the fumes pouring out of the volcano must be toxic. She couldn’t tell whether the nonstop rumbling was real or just in her ears, or whether or not the floor really was shaking that much. And was the world spinning? Or was it just all the steam and perfume getting in her eyes? Never mind, she knew it was just a matter of seconds until she blacked out. Staggering up to the very inner edge of the crater, she threw her perfume gun in as far as she could. Then she stumbled away from the edge, making it a few metres down the volcano side by the time she turned back into Rose – her perfume gun must have been destroyed in the magma, and the akuma along with it. She coughed and dropped to the ground, unable to go any further.

The entire side of the mountain suddenly shifted so fast it threw her off, tumbling straight past the vertical edge and landing roughly in the foliage far below. By this time she was just on the verge of going unconscious – hopefully everything she had done had been enough to save Juleka.

The perfume gun being absorbed by the magma had set off an explosive chain reaction inside the volcano, and now it reached its peak – the entire top of the volcano was spectacularly blown off in a looming cloud of lava, ash and dust. The next explosion, when the lava began hitting the cloud of perfume, was even more spectacular. Huge plumes of orange and red were thrown up in the air, heading straight towards the top of the force field dome.

In his lair, Hawk Moth couldn’t help but stare in awe. It looked so incredible. Revenge was going to be so sweet, wasn’t it? Even with all that perfume, the lava would not be able to break the force field. All the villains were going to die. Yes… sweet, sweet revenge. Finally.

 

Copycat was running as far away from the volcano as he could, not knowing if that would save him. Probably not. The sky was incredibly dark now, the last remnants of the setting sun blocked out by the ash. Some lava already seemed to be running down the sides of the volcano. That would eventually catch up to him no matter what.

He stopped suddenly when he saw Jackady up in front of him, lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious. How could he be sleeping through an event like this?!

But no… he wasn’t asleep. He had been knocked out. What could have done that? Copycat raised his baton in preparation – not that it mattered too much, since he was already about to die anyway.

Looking directly up ahead, he saw that the air just in front of Jackady was shimmering slightly. Oh yes – the force field on the edge of the arena. Copycat had read _Catching Fire_ , he knew about that. Clearly Jackady must have run into it and been electrocuted. At least he seemed to be still alive, or at least, he was breathing. Maybe his bizarre villain suit had absorbed the worst of the shock.

In any case, here was where it ended. Copycat could run no further. He would just have to stand here and wait for the lava to come along and consume him, ending his life, letting Hawk Moth get what he wanted all along…

Wait.

The force field.

_Of course_. How did he not think of it before? The force field in _Catching Fire_ was not indestructible; surely this one couldn’t be either. He had to break it open, and he knew how.

But would he die?

It didn’t matter, he had to at least try. If he didn’t then he was going to die for _certain_. And even if he did die, maybe this would at least allow the others to escape. It was worth a shot.

He took one last look back at the volcano. The lava was still gushing out of the top of it, exploding violently as it hit the bright pink cloud above it. It was so high in the sky now, it must be about to hit the top of the force field. In a way, the view was beautiful. He just hoped it wouldn’t be the last thing he would ever see.

Raising his arm, he yelled, “ _CATACLYSM!_ ” Then he ran towards the force field and slammed his hand into it as forcefully as he could.

Immediately, there was a huge explosion all around the arena. All Hawk Moth’s cameras instantly shut off, leaving him unable to see what was going on. Was anyone even still alive? Would they all have died?

He certainly _hoped_ they had all died. Because the last thing he had managed to see on his cameras was that Copycat used his Cataclysm on the force field at the _exact_ same time as the lava hit it, and together in combination… that might just have been enough to break it.

“ _Lucky Charm!_ ”

Oh no… _not now_. He knew it would only be a matter of time before Ladybug and Chat Noir found his new hideout, but he hadn’t expected it to be this quick. Leaving everything as it was, he made a quick getaway.

Ladybug and Chat Noir ran into the room just a few seconds after he had left.

“Not again…”

“You left the tracker on his car, right?”

“Yes, my lady…”

“Good, we can track him down later… first let’s see if there are any survivors…”

“Do you think the force field broke open?”

“Well if we can find an opening into the arena somewhere in this lair then yes, it did, and we’d better get the paramedics in as soon as possible…”


	10. Chapter 10

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sat waiting in the hospital room, watching the monitors that flipped between each of the 25 civilians, all unconscious. Everyone had been telling her to get some rest but she just couldn’t – not while even a single person hadn’t yet woken up. At least they were all _alive_ , but…

There! Someone was awake! Which room was that? Room 116… Without even bothering to wake up Tikki and let her know where she was going, Marinette rushed out of the monitor room and up the stairs, following signs down various corridors and getting a lot of stern looks from staff members along the way. She burst into room 116 to see her classmate Alix Kubdel wide awake and sitting up.

“Alix, you’re awake!” Marinette screeched.

“Oh my gosh… Marinette… I had the _weirdest_ dream, you’re never gonna believe it, there was another Hunger Games thing and-”

“It wasn’t a dream,” Marinette said, sitting down on the chair next to the bed. “But everyone’s okay, don’t worry, you’re all in hospital but you’ll probably be let out soon…”

“Oh, okay… Wasn’t there a plan to break the force field and get everyone out or something? Did it work then?”

“Eh, kind of. Basically I’ll explain everything that happened – Hawk Moth put everyone into the new arena and broadcasted the Games on national TV again, which of course meant Adrien and I quickly started trying to hunt him down so we could stop him. And of course we had a time limit this time too, so that was rather stressful.” She gave a shaky laugh. “Anyway, this time Hawk Moth himself also narrated some parts of the broadcast, which gave us a better insight into what was happening. Volpina was trying to trick him with her illusions but he already made some kind of scanner so he could detect where the real one was, so that didn’t work. And Gamer came up with the plan to have Princess Fragrance shoot enough perfume above the volcano to make the lava explode into the force field, but Hawk Moth didn’t bother to stop it because he knew that wouldn’t work either – there wasn’t actually enough lava in the volcano to break the force field.”

“But then how are we all alive?” Alix asked. “Did you and Chat Noir get there in time to rescue everyone, then?”

“Not really, we arrived after the volcano had already begun erupting. But it turned out that Copycat used Cataclysm on the force field at the same time as the lava hit it, and that weakened it enough that it completely collapsed in on itself. It knocked everyone out, sure, but at least me and Chat could get in quickly and deliver everyone to the paramedics. Everyone’s alive – some more injured than others, but they’ll all be okay.”

“And what about Hawk Moth? Did you kill him? Please tell me you killed him.”

“He, uh… got away. But I promise we’ll go find him soon!” Marinette added hastily as she saw Alix clenching her fists. “Chat put a tracker on his car and so we know exactly where he is, and we’re going to go take him down. We just needed to make sure everyone was safe first. And we needed a bit of a rest, too. I haven’t really slept at all the past few days. But it was worth it, since everyone’s fine, and that’s all that matters…”

“Phew, I’m glad Jalil’s okay at least,” Alix said. “If he was dead I’d probably just steal your miraculous and go fight Hawk Moth myself…”

“Yes, your brother is fine, and I’m sure your family will be so happy to see you both again. You’re the first to wake up but I think Jalil was alright too so he’ll probably be up and about soon. Oh, and Chloé too, you’ll be glad to hear.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“I guess you could go visit her when she wakes up, right?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Oh… because, um… well… I just assumed that… I mean, it seemed like you and her…”

Alix suddenly went red, her hands shooting up to cover her face. “Wait… that part was real too?”

“Yes…”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?”

“No, it wasn’t a dream.”

“ _And you saw the whole thing?_ ”

“Um…” Marinette scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “I don’t know how much of whatever went on was broadcast, but, uh… you definitely made out…”

Alix didn’t say anything – she didn’t even look at Marinette.

“Well, I guess I’ll go see if someone else is awake yet then…” Marinette said, standing up and slowly backing out of the room. It was starting to occur to her that perhaps with the threat of imminent death, the villains might have moved a _little_ quicker than normal… Juleka and Rose had “married” each other, after all, and so had Alya and Nino… so it wasn’t really too strange that Alix didn’t take it very well now that she was safe and sound…

Marinette bumped into Adrien in the corridor outside.

“Marinette, there you are!” he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I told you, you should get some rest!”

“I know, I know, I will,” she said. “It’s just that I saw that Alix had woken up so I thought I should go tell her what happened…”

“Her family can do that too, you know, and they’re on their way. Right now you need to get some decent sleep.”

“You too,” Marinette said, yawning. “And then… and then we’ll defeat Hawk Moth.”

“Yes.” Adrien nodded. “We’ll defeat Hawk Moth.”

“We _have_ to this time. Failure is not an option. Adrien… we almost lost everyone. We can’t let that happen again.”

“And we won’t. Hawk Moth is not going to get away with this. He’s been terrorizing Paris for too long now. We’ll put a stop to him, and return his miraculous to Master Fu, and then…”

“And then will the city still need Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

Adrien smiled and ran a hand through Marinette’s hair. “Of course they’ll still need us. We mean more to Paris than just fighting akumas.”

“You’re right. Alya’s Ladyblog, for example.”

“That’s reminds me – I came here to tell you that Alya’s just woken up too!”

Marinette’s face lit up immediately. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go see her!”

She grabbed Adrien’s hand and ran down the corridor, pulling him after her.

 

Over the rest of that week, one by one, all of the 25 civilians woke up and were greeted by their family and friends. Once the final person – Rose Lavillant – had woken up and been taken care of, Marinette and Adrien transformed back into Ladybug and Chat Noir.

“Your tracker’s still on Hawk Moth’s car, right?”

“Yep – I know _exactly_ where he is.”

“Let’s go ambush him.”

“He won’t suspect a thing.”

Opening the nearest window, they leapt out into the night sky together, ready to face their greatest battle yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Phew, I churned that out really fast because I wanted to get it done in Femslash February so I had an excuse for putting in that rarepair I accidentally started shipping while writing the first one... Anyway, I know this wasn't as good as the first one but thank you for reading it and feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think!


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